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mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
I also agree with Bobser. While you should generally ignore a heckler if possible, there are times when you must deal with the situation or risk losing your audience. The thing to remember is not to react too soon. Wait until it is clear that he is annoying the rest of the audience. Then when you finally respond the audience will be on your side.
I dealt with this in a lot more detail in the thread "Handling the Audience - A Primer for Mentalists." Good thoughts, Bob |
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robwar0100 Inner circle Buy me some newspapers.Purchase for me 1 Gazette and 1747 Posts |
I haven't had much in the way of a heckler; I am always polite, but I can be a little sarcastic at times.
However, like Ted, I had someone who basically exposed what I was doing. He had learned a lot of magic when he was young and got away from it. I guess because my show got a strong reaction (especially my three-phase book test), he wanted to impress his coworkers (it was a company Christmas party) who had a wonderful time. I saw him the next day (I do business with his company on a routine basis), and he proceeded to tell me how he was exposing the stuff I did. I said nothing. I knew I should have confronted him, but I just acted as if his actions didn't phase me. When I perform, my character is more of the guy next door, not the one who is so far superior to everyone else. So, stuff like this bothers me. Oh, well. Bobby
"My definition of chance is my hands on the wheel," Greg Long.
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mindpunisher Inner circle 6132 Posts |
One of the reasons I prefer doing hypnosis shows to mentalism shows. There is nothing to expose.
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mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
Bobby-
There will always be people like that in the world. Don't let it bother you. You brought the audience some joy and I'm sure those subjected to his "exposures" saw him as the egotistical jerk he obviously is. Good thoughts and best wishes for a wonderful Christmas - Bob |
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Jim-Callahan V.I.P. 5018 Posts |
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On 2010-12-19 19:57, mindpunisher wrote: Mentalism show's? Only if you do not know what you are doing. If you do well then you aint Bithch-n-&-Moaning about it on a forum. But if you are doing the Mental Magic Wonder Boy deal you will be taken down.
“I can make Satan’s devils dance like fine gentlemen across the stage of reality”.
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Magic Patrick Inner circle Minnesota 1591 Posts |
Quote:
On 2010-12-19 20:02, Jim-Callahan wrote: Jim, You did a great performance on Phenomanon and still got unrightfully heckled. I think that everyone gets heckled and this is a good topic as we can see ways everyone handles it. I know that I have learned a lot already. Thanks all. Patrick |
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DekEl Inner circle Creates MindTricks. Has exactly: 1172 Posts |
I must admit that was about as terrible a situation one could get in to be heckled. Regardless of Jim's response, just thinking of the issue with new eyes after struggling through bad heckling job myself, trying to imagine being live on tv in a close up ring where you can't just dismiss the "host" makes me sick to my stomach. You really can't prepare for that sort of thing.
You can purchase my works at: http://www.GetMindTricks.com
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mindpunisher Inner circle 6132 Posts |
Jim,
I prefer hypnosis that's just me. Yes I agree if you know what you are doing your less likely to get exposed. The problem lies when there is a very knowledgable idiot in the audience who goes about trying to expose. I have never been exposed to my knowledge but have had one or two try. In one show once I had two different idiots try and make me look bad. The first one knew about metal detectors and tried to mess up a routine where they hide a coin under a paper cup one of five. Five different tests each time I take back £20 to leave them with nothing out of £100. All they have to do is lie etc. He took the coin away and replaced it with a paper stamp. Of course I was using a thumper so he had no clue. I made him look like a complete idiot. The second guy went around three different people asking them what card they had thought of after being involved in a TOD deck. I used a three way deck and guess what? They all picked different cards. Again he looked like an idiot. But I guess I had some luck on my side that night. Ok you do get hecklers during hypnosis shows too that can disrupt the show. I just prefer dealing with them with hypnosis shows. I have to say I have never been taken down but I have hang on with the skin of my teeth. But that's when my performances are best anyway. |
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Scott Burton Inner circle 1131 Posts |
The show I had the other night was interesting as the event planner specifically told me over a year in advance that there would be hecklers in the group. I've never had anyone say this to me before. I've never really had problems with hecklers before so I accepted the gig with confidence. I admit that the comment about the to-be-expected hecklers stayed in the back of my mind. Could THIS group really be that bad?????
Well, I did the gig and no problems. Sure, there were a few individuals at higher degrees of intoxication but not really an issue. The organizer specifically mentioned afterward how much everyone enjoyed it and how I didn't have any audience issues. The previous years entertainers had issues including one who crashed horribly. I equate my apparent ability to avoid issues with hecklers with my personality (on-stage and off) - I am non-abrasive, kind, and confident in a professional sense. I am also well dressed and well spoken. I am not someone who enters into conflict and people can sense that. I also am not flustered easily. This obviously comes with confidence and experience. However, in addition, I take the attitude that I am first and foremost a human being and secondly a performer (mentalist or whatever). Even if the audience could strip away all of the mystery out of my show you will still be left with a real person who they enjoyed interacting and laughing with. No heckler can ruin the show because, no matter how you tear it down, you will still be left with me. And it is me that my clients and audiences learn to love and enjoy. An interesting questions to ask yourself: if you took away all of the mentalism or magic from your show, would people still want to watch you? Just one man's opinion. |
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Rebecca_Harris Veteran user 361 Posts |
There are always going to be times when you're going to come across these sorts of people. My personal approach is to just ignor them, I don't pander to them or play to them in any way, don't respond and certainly don't be hostile in any way. The majority of the audience are going to be on your side, more often than not I've seen other members of the audience tell the heckler to be quiet or to leave. They want to enjoy themselves and he's ruining their evening as well. Don't ever be hostile because as soon as you do that, you're likely to turn the audience against you.
Mentalism at The Enchanter's Emporium
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bobser Inner circle 4178 Posts |
I think it is best to TRY to ignore them but that Cassidy fella hit the nail I think with:
"Wait until it is clear that he is annoying the rest of the audience. Then when you finally respond the audience will be on your side." Dya' think he's done this before? Bob ps: I just noticed my number of posts is sitting at: 3333. Don't I get something for this? I feel... special!
Bob Burns is the creator of The Swan.
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Jones_Unknown New user Geosynchronous Orbit above Earth 15 Posts |
I spent over 25 years, working in comedy clubs, 7 to 10 shows a week. You would get at least a couple hecklers per week, sometimes almost every show for the week. For some reason, some people seem to think that a comedy club environment gives them an automatic license to heckle. I've even had some hecklers come up to me after the show, telling me they only were trying to help, to "add" to the comedy, because we comics are supposed to be able to adlib and improv off of the situation and make it funnier.
Experience is your best teacher. My first heckler, when I was about 20, ruined my show; flustered me, set my timing off, got the audience sided with him and made me look like a total amateur. 20 years later, any heckler at my show was easily handled (usually, hysterically burnt to a crisp to the delight of the audience) and my show flowed without a hitch. Every situation is different and you have to learn to read the heckler; they may be just having a bit of fun, or they might have some agenda and be totally vicious. Sometimes I would use stock heckler stopper lines, but I relied mainly on my improvisational skills, and occasionally I would just ignore them...in very, very rare and extreme situations, I would ask somebody in management or control to politely escort the person out as they were ruining the show for everyone else. Once I quit. The abuse was beyond control, and I told the organizers to get a clown and dunk tank next time, their venue was below my professional standards. Learning the rules of improvisation is a good tool also. IMHO, any performer who talks/patters; stand-up comic, improvisational theater actor, magician, ventriloquist, juggler, mentalist, public speaker, etc., can learn and add value to his performance with a couple of improv classes or pick up a book on improv like Spolin's "Theater Games". We have set shows and scripts, yet the minute a heckler interrupts this, whether you realize it or not, you are now in the theater of improvisation, so learn how that theater works. I also kept a journal of heckler stopper lines. I have a nice little library of books on them, dating from all time periods, and I'd look through them for a couple of good zingers. Sometimes I just improvised a gem during my show. I'd write them in my journal for future use on some idiot trying to mess with my show. The most important thing I did learn that is crucial, is you have to isolate the heckler away from the rest of the audience. You have to keep the audience on your side, get them to be as frustrated and annoyed with the heckler as you are. If you lose that audience, your show is gonna be in trouble and it's *** hard sometimes to win the audience back. Learning how to isolate that heckler, again, will come from experience, but usually, once the heckler realizes he's all alone, unless he's incoherently drunk, they usually will shut up. Remember, you have the microphone (or the center of attention in smaller venues), so use that power to always maintain control. You are King when you are on stage, it is your domain, and the audience has to sense that. Finally, go study the masters. Go to a comedy club (not stand-ups on TV as any heckling usually gets edited out) and see how the pros handle hecklers, because stand-up comics get constantly heckled. I toured with Jay Leno a couple of times. He was one of the best at handling hecklers, absolutely brilliant, but you could only see this side of Jay by seeing him live in a non-TV venue. Good Luck |
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Sock Puppet Monkey Loyal user 235 Posts |
Eugene Burger has written some excellent advice on dealing with a heckler.
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jdmagic357 Special user 737 Posts |
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On 2010-12-19 20:19, DekEl wrote: Absolutely FALSE. You CAN prepare for that kind of thing and Jim showed his professionalism with his responses and actions. He should have won the competition. Nobody else on the program did it for REAL. Cheers.
Just cause they say it, doesn't make it true.
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DekEl Inner circle Creates MindTricks. Has exactly: 1172 Posts |
Calling the host an ideological bigot regardless of the inherently questionable sagacity of the said host, even if it were -- and I might agree -- true, hardly showcases an epitome of professionalism, not that I wouldn't have done the same myself. I still don't think you can prepare for a punk-*** goth (no offense to any goth mentalists out there) with no respect for mediums or mentalism in general standing up and asking you to tell him what's in an envelope he's holding. Criss was just waiting for a medium to come on stage so that he could "show him up", because he knew that the sort of people who watch AE on a regular basis would eat it up.
IMHO...
You can purchase my works at: http://www.GetMindTricks.com
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jdmagic357 Special user 737 Posts |
Being professional doesn't always mean playing nice. If one calls one an "Ideological Bigot" and the person being called that is one, then I would say that is indeed professional. Same is true with those who heckle you. Sometimes it's better to call out the heckler and embarrass them than to just be nice. "Listen I don't go down to the Taco Bell you work at and give you problems do I?" "Hey you've shown us how to be an ass, now how about showing some restraint for the rest of the show?" "Do you kiss your daughter with that mouth? This isn't Kentucky my friend." and so on and so on.
Cheers.
Just cause they say it, doesn't make it true.
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mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
An important point to remember is to never show that you are angry. In the "Handling an Audience" thread I shared one of the lines I sometimes use, but emphasized that it is said innocently and with a smile. If you lose your temper, or seem to, you have lost the game as far as the audience is concerned.
Oh - one other little tip I forgot to mention - don't work in clubs that have chicken wire surrounding the stage. Good thoughts- Bob |
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brehaut Inner circle kentucky 2531 Posts |
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On 2010-12-20 12:05, jdmagic357 wrote: I live in Kentucky-- not sure what you think goes on here |
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Simon (Ted) Edwards Inner circle London 1528 Posts |
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On 2010-12-20 12:43, mastermindreader wrote: So true. Earlier in the thread, when I mentioned telling someone to shut the f*** up, this was done with faux ferocity and the humour was obvious to all, including the exposer. Getting angry shows you've lost control and essentially the heckler has won. |
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jdmagic357 Special user 737 Posts |
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I live in Kentucky-- not sure what you think goes on here Don't get your panties all in a bunch. My wife is from Kentucky where kissing cousins is all the rage. She says incest is best, but my cousins are all fat Italian men, so I wouldn't know. Clear things up for ya? Cheers.
Just cause they say it, doesn't make it true.
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